The attack began with a wild charge on the town. Horsemen rode through the streets at top speed, shooting in every direction. Then they divided into small gangs and scattered over the town under orders to “burn every house and kill every man.” The horror of what followed has seldom been equaled in the warfare of civilized people. When the people of Lawrence realized that their town was in the possession of Quantrill’s band they expected that it would be burned and a few prominent citizens killed, but wholesale murder was not looked for, and many who might have escaped remained and were killed. For four hours the ruffians robbed buildings, shot the occupants, and applied the torch. Every house was a scene of brutality or of remarkable escape. When the work of butchery and destruction was finished, Quantrill and his men retreated toward Missouri, mounted on stolen horses and heavily laden with plunder. They kept up their work of destruction by burning farmhouses as they passed. A few troops followed them, but the raiders escaped across the border. =Loss from the Raid.= The number of lives lost can never be known with certainty, but it was about one hundred and fifty. Many were seriously wounded. The loss of property was variously estimated from one to two million dollars. The work of rebuilding the town was immediately begun, and with all their poverty the people of the State gave generously to the stricken citizens of Lawrence. =General Price Threatens Kansas.= Kansas was too far away from the center of conflict of the Civil War to become the scene of great battles, but it was from time to time threatened with invasion by the regular Confederate army. During the last year of the war, General Price, with a large Confederate force, marched northward through Arkansas into Missouri. When it was reported that he was moving westward, Kansas issued a call for more soldiers. The response was immediate. More than 16,000 men appeared for service. A force of Kansas troops marched into Missouri and met Price’s army in battle at Lexington. As the armies moved westward other battles were fought at the Little Blue and at the Big Blue, and again at Kansas City and Westport, after which Price was forced to retreat southward. He was followed by the Union army. He crossed into Kansas in Linn County, and skirmishes took place at Trading Post Ford, at the Mounds, and at Mine Creek. Price was then forced into Missouri again, where he was soon defeated. [Illustration: THE COUNTIES OF KANSAS AT THE CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR.]